Week 2 Storytelling: The Mystical Butterfly

Once upon a time, there was an elderly couple who knew their time was coming to an end.  Knowing that their son had given everything he had to help them, they were worried that he would not be able to make ends meet for his own family once the parents passed away.  With this realization weighing on them, they sought the counsel of a wise family friend who was very close to the elderly couple.  The family friend advised them, “Do not worry. When the time comes, send your son to me and I will make sure he is taken care of.”  The elderly couple thought this meant that the son would be employed by the family friend and thanked the man graciously.  A few days later, the elderly couple passed away with the son holding their hands and saying prayers for them as they went.  Right before their eyes closed, the father of the young man told him to go see the wise family friend within a week.  The young man nodded with tears in his eyes and broke down sobbing when the two took their last breath.  A week later, the young man put on the best outfit he could find and set off to find the family friend.  He found him in his shop selling all sorts of knick-knacks and explained to the man that his parents instructed him to find the man.  The man smiled and told the young man, “I have just the thing for you.”  Confused and bewildered, the young man had given the man $1000 before he even realized what had happened and had a silver teapot in return.   When he returned home, he kept his head down knowing finances were tight and his poor wife and children didn’t have very much money left, only this teapot and a couple hundred dollars.  His wife thought the grief of his parents’ passing was getting to his head and gently rubbed his shoulders while he sat down silently.  They opened the teapot to find a caterpillar inside.  The children were fascinated by the insect so the young man and his wife decided to keep it as a pet and fed it so the children could see it transform into a butterfly one day and provide them hope.  Every day they fed the caterpillar before they fed themselves, and one day, the caterpillar broke out of its cocoon and transformed into a butterfly.  To the parents’ dismay, it flew away, but from that day forward, random gems, herbs, and firewood appeared on their doorstep.  When their house had been filled with valuables, the butterfly returned.  The whole thing seemed quite mysterious and the family attributed their good will to the insect to the good riches nature had poured upon them.

Author's Note:  This story is a re-telling of The Fairy Frog which is from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).  I chose this story because I liked the idea of the couple loving their elderly parents for as long as they could and faithfully following their instructions even though it seemed like a bleak option in the beginning.  It also showed how much the young couple trusted each other and stayed together thorugh the good and bad.  I chose to do a more modern re-telling of the story because I thought it would be more relatable to the reader. For instance, the original story had a market in it and those aren't as common today.  Also, I chose to use a butterfly as the creature to bless the couple instead of a frog.  I chose a butterfly because I felt like there was a lot of imagery – the cocoon may not seem very hopeful and is not very beautiful but when given enough time, a beautiful butterfly emerges as the couple emerged to be rewarded for their generous nature.  Overally, I really liked the message so I tried to keep that the same even though details such as those listed above were changed.

A viceroy butterfly, similar to the one that the family may have taken care of.

Source:  Wikipedia